March Madness
pool online: Feds look into Facebook illegal gambling

Investigating
the March Madness pools on the social network website Facebook
for possible illegal gambling is the latest action FBI is
considering taking to combat illegal sports betting. According
to an article by the Chicago Tribune, people who host March
Madness online pools and collect fees could face criminal
charges and jail, if found guilty of operating an illegal online
gambling operation. "It is fair to say this raises questions.
There could be a violation if there's a payout and if the
operators take a cut," FBI spokesman Ross Rice was quoted by
the paper.

Those so-called "gambling operators" are
folks who have created small March Madness pools for their
friends with an entry fee around $20, but to the FBI those
people run illegal gambling operations and brake the interstate
gambling laws. Whether the FBI would investigate the online
March Madness pools for illegal gambling remains under question,
although the agency says that are considering if the Facebook
pools are something worth allocating the resources.